poetry

by

August Afternoon

The sun has given way to
a gunmetal sky that brings
a strengthened wind
cooling the air and agitating
the leaves on the summer trees

The birds are frenzied
They know the signs
and sing anxious songs
as they search for
safe roosts in the prickly hedgerow

The roses droop
No rain for days, but
they’ll regret their careless wishes
when each heavy drop dislodges
their delicate rainbow colours

Then the thunder breaks
and lightening unzips the heavens
The world silently listens to the show
while rivulets of rain pattern the pane
and puddle on the thirsty earth

by

I heard a sound

My eyes snap open
and in darkness I am alert.
Was that a child’s shout?

Or a lost gull perhaps,
screaming for the sea
above this inland island garden?

It may have been the angry screech of
An engine, scarring the road
With it’s speed

Or perhaps it was the ghostly wail
of someone long gone
who cares to visit me at night.

Yet still, it could have been
a longing cry that escaped my own lips
as I remembered that lost caress.

Or perchance it was the frail path
between reality
and sleep traversing,

and that sound,
it was in my dreams
just part of my imaginings

by

Not Fun, Not Fair #2

Fun house pic

 

He looked like a gypsy
brooding eyes and
wisps of brown curls.
How could I resist when
He invited me to waltz?

I never expected the spinning
to be so dizzying,
or the music so deafening.
He threw a curveball
And won my heart.

Then bought me candy
that sparkled in the bright lights
of the ferris wheel
where we swung high and saw clear
to our cloudless horizon.

On the rollercoaster of reality
we swooped and sunk,
and screams punctuated
the nauseating motion
Of the not-so-merry go round.

We twirled together
down the helter skelter of life
where only dank earth
waited for our landing.
Entwined, we hit the bottom.

We tried the dodgems
but couldn’t escape
our car crash lives
and ended up in a house of horror.
The dark tunnel of lost love.

 

 

 

 

by

The Marriage Dance

first dance

Remember when we swayed
clasped body to body,
drunk with love, while people
watched and cooed and cheered

 Lost on our rocking boat
the dancefloor filled with friends
and excited children
without us noticing 

I trod on your silk skirts
with my clumsy left feet
tangled, we tripped and laughed
and were both indulgent  

The flowers in your hair
slipped and fell to the floor
and were crushed beneath us
and it didn’t matter 

Then when the beat of the music changed
we drew apart
we misaligned
and we mistimed the rhythm

That tender way we danced
it seems so long ago

 

 

by

Foreboding

wool

I’m picking at the thread
of my doubts and fears
The old worn-out sweater of
optimism no longer offers comfort
Now rough and scratchy
it torments me  

Even the night-time promise
of refuge is broken
Sheets are cold and harsh
and the charcoal night
only lights the fires of dread
My eyes won’t shut 

I watch the subtleties of change
And hope they are nothing
But the turnings of a ball
That the stitches won’t drop
And there will be no
unravelling

by

25th April 2017

For goodness sake, it’s April
And yet the wind is wickedly shaking
The blossom from the cherry
So that it blankets the ground
In pink petal snow 

It’s April and on Sunday
We sat in the garden in the sun
Drinking chilled wine, yet
Just two days later
My cheeks are pinched red
From the cold 

All hail, its April
Ice crystals hit the window panes
The dog growls at them
Indignant at their intrusion
But then a flashy rainbow
Signals spring